Automatically controlled article coating apparatus



H. c. PIERCE 1,940,269 AUTOMATICALLY CONTROLLED ARTICLE COATINGvAPIARA'IQS Dec. 19, 1933.

` 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 2, 1932 MMU Il lllllllllllll lll(llllElllJ INVENTOR Harold C. Pierce -v .L7/w;

A ATTORNEYAHl H. c. PIERCE 1,940,269

AUTOMATICALLY CONTROLLED ARTICLE COATING APPARATUS Dec. 19, 1933.

Filed Jan. 2, 1932 2 'SheetS-Shnet 2 INVENTOR. Haro/d (.P/'erce 462ATTORNEY6.

Patented Dec. 1 9, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE AUTOMATICALLYCONTBOLLED ARTICLE COATING APPARATUS Harold C. Pierce, Anaheim, Calif.,assignor to Brogdex Company, Winter Haven, Fla., a corporation ofFlorida My invention relates to automatically controlled article coatingapparatus and more particularly to such apparatus for coating fruit witha protective and preservative material.

Certain types of article coating apparatus employ a power-drivenmechanism to effect a positive feed of more or less fluent coatingmaterial to the spray nozzles or other devices effective in applying thematerial to the articles fed to the apparatus. One disadvantage in theuse of such apparatus has been the continuance of such feed of thecoating material and the consequent projection of that material from thespray nozzles or the like despite the cessation in the feed oi thearticles to the apparatus which may occur over more or less prolongedperiods of time in the days operations; for, due to negligence of theoperator which is apt to occur, the customary manually Operable meansyfor disconnecting the power drive from the feeding mechanism for thecoating material cannot lbe relied upon as a safeguard against suchcontinued feed. Also when thc feeding mechanism for the coating materialhas been disconnected from its power drive, the manually-operatedconnection is often not again made with suiilcient promptness uponrenewal of the feed of the articles to the apparatus to properly coatthe first articles of the new run.

Accordingly, a general object of the present invention is the correctionof those defects in the general type of apparatus referred to by theprovision of control mechanism automatically operating upon cessationand renewal of feed of the articles to the apparatus to respectivelydisengage and engage the feeding mechanism for the coating material withits power,drive.

A more particular object of my invention is the provision of controlmechanism for fruit coating-apparatus automatically operating uponcessation and renewal of feed of the fruit to the apparatus to stop andrenew, respectively, the delivery of the coating material to the airbrush or other device of the apparatus designed to apply the material tothe fruit.

While not limited to such field of use, the control mechanism of myinvention is especially adapted for apparatus designed to coat freshcitrus and other fruits, such as oranges, grapefruit, tangerines,lemons, apples and the like, with a preservative coating of waxy orother suitable material in a manner to maintain the fruit in fresh,plump condition, to protect it against infection by mold or rotorganisms and to improve its general appearance.-

In one mode of such fruit treatment now extensively practiced in thepreparation of :citrus fruits for market, a normally solid protectiveand preservative material, generally parafllnv either alone or mixedwith an oily vehicle or solvent, is applied to the fruit in the form ofa fine spray, more particularly in the form of a mist or fog produced byatomizing or nebulizing the material in liquid form, the mist or fog,when it contacts with the fruit, depositing thereon exceedingly fineparticles of the material to form a thin coating, the fruit then beingadvantageously subjected to a rubbing or brushing action to spread thiscoating uniformly over its surface in the form of an exceedingly thinfilm.

A form of apparatus now extensively used and found particularlyeffective in such fruit treatment comprises a mechanically-drivenfruitrubbing or brushing unit to which the fruit is fed and throughwhich unit it travels during the rubbing or brushing operation thereonand an atomizing device by which the coating material in fluentcondition is atomized or nebulized by air or similar fluid underpressure and projected in the form of a une mist or fog into contactwith the fruit traversing the brushing unit. Means are employed formaintaining a supply body of the paramn or like coating material inliquid form or at least in such fluent condition as to be nebulizedeectively, and means for positively feeding that coating material influent condition from the supply to the atomlzing device. Generally oneor more power driven pumps, with means to adjustably vary the quantityof coating material delivered, constitute the means for positivelyfeeding the fluent coating material from the supply to the atomizer.

In the customaryy packing house equipment employing such an apparatus asdescribed above, that apparatus is in series with fruit elevator andconveyor units, grading and sizing belts, and the like, all runningintimed relation for the general advance of the fruit in largequantitles through the various stages of operations terminating in theboxing of the fruit for shipment. The customary practice, therefore, isto continue the entire series of apparatus units in operation despitetemporary cessations in the initial feed of the fruit thereto, and ithas been found undesirable to stop the running ofthe coating apparatusas a whole upon the interruptions which occur over more or less extendedperiods during the day's operations in the feed of the fruit to thatparticular apparatus unit of the series. Unless, therefore. the spray ofthe coating material is stopped promptly upon cessation of feed of thefruit to the coating apparatus there is a waste of that material as wellas a fouling of the apparatus. Another disadvantage of the continuedspray has been the excessive'deposits, ofthe coatingr material on theemptybrush'rolls which were found to seriously interfere with theformation of the desired uniformly thin film coating on the fruit whenits feed to the apparatus was renewed.

For reasons alreaiw given, attempts to avoid these disadvantages byproviding some form of manually operable means for disengaging the feedpumps for the coating material from and re-engaging them with theirpower drive, have proved unavailing; and the control mechanism of myinvention, while not'limited to this field of use, is particularlydesigned to overcome these disadvantages in the operation of fruitcoating apparatus of the type above referred to.l

In general principle, my invention contemplates the provision, in anarticle coating apparatus having power driven mechanism for feeding thecoating material to the spray or other l: applying device, .of controlmeans automatically operating incident to the feed of articles to theapparatus and to the: cessation of such feed to respectively start andstop the drive of the feeding vmechanism for the coating material.

As the hereinafter-described specific embodirn'ent of my inventionapplied to a fruit coating apparatus of the type described above, andfound in practice to ,substantially improve the treatment of fruit bysuch apparatus, is aptly illustrative. of the principles and advantagesof the invention, further reference will be made only to suchembodiment-for the more detailed disclosure'of the principles of theinvention. It is tobef understood, however, that the specific embodimentreferred to is merely illustrative of the invention, its uses andadvantages, and that various changes and modifications of theembodimentV shown and adaptations to other articlecoating apparatus arewithin the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

' In the drawings: b

Fig.,1 is a side elevational view of a fruittreating-apparatus of thetype referred to emthe invention;

Fig. 2isa top plan view of the apparatus with certain parts of theleft-hand portion of the apparatus as shown in Fig. 1 broken away Fig. 3is a view on an enlarged scale of certain parts of the apparatus, takenon the section line 3-3 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of thearrows;

Fig. 41s a detailed view, mostly in elevation and on an enlarged scale,looking from the left toward the right in Fig. 1, of a portion of thecounter shaft and the pulleys thereon for driving the pumps, and ofassociated' devices for controlling the driving connection, the powerpulley, being shown partly in section;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged detailed view, taken on the section line 5-5 ofFig. 2, but. with only the power pulley on the counter shaft shown, andcertain parts broken away, for clearness of illustration; and

Fig. 6 is an end elevational view of a guiding bracket for a shiftablerod of the clutch-control means, that bracket appearing in sideelevational view in Fig. 5.

Referring to the drawings, the particular fruit coating apparatus inwhich theV preferred form of my invention is incorporated in theillustrasuitable power transmission means.

tive example of practice of the invention comprises an atomizer ornebulizer unit indicated generally by 10 and a fruit rubbing or brushingunit indicated generally by l1.

The atomizer or nebulizer unit 10 comprises a container or receptable 12for the paraffin or other preservative material or composition which isto be applied to the fruit. Tank or reservoir 12, which has a hingedcover 13, is provided with electric heating coils, indicateddiagrammatically in dotted lines at 14, for melting the paraflin andmaintaining it in molten or fluid condition, the heating coils beingcontrolled by the switch 15.

Mounted within the container or tank 12 adjacent one end thereof, aremeans for positively feeding the paraffin, in fluid condition, from thesupply in the tank to the atomizer and spray devices of the apparatus.In apparatus of this type the feeding means generally comprise a seriesof mechanical pumps, one for each atomizer and spray device, alloperated from a common shaft. One such pump is shown diagrammatically indotted lines at 16 in Fig. 1, and the common shaft for driving all thepumps is shown projecting exteriorly of the tank at 17 in Fig. 2. Thepump shaft 17 may be driven from any suitable source of power andthrough any In the particular apparatus here shown, the pump shaft isdriven from the source of power, not shown, through a counter shaft 19and belt 20 entrained over pulleys 21 and 22 on the counter shaft andthe pump shaft, respectively. The power transmission means to thecounter shaft will later be described in connection with certaindepartures from the heretofore known and used types of drivingconnection in accordance with the principles of the present invention.

Each of the atomizing devices, four in numl ber in the particularapparatus here shown, comprises a pipe 23 for the flow of the coatingmaterial, terminal spray nozzle 24 and an airline connection 25 forsupplying air under pressure to the pipe 23 to eifect the atomization or1M nebulization of the coating material in a manner to project the sameas a fine mist or fog from the nozzle. The coating material is fed tothe pipes 23 by the pumps 16 in the supply tank,

and a check valve 26 is provided in each com- 125 pressed-air pipe 25near its juncture with the pipe 23 to prevent the coating material fromentering the air line 25.

Each air pipe 25 is connected to a manifold or header 27 by a valve 28,the manifold or 130 header being supplied with air under pressure by apump or blower 29 connected to the header by the piping 30 which isprovided with a relief valve 31 to prevent excess air pressure. The airpump is driven from the source of power, not shown, through the beltdrive 32, and the air thus supplied for atomizing the paramn is heatedby electric heater 33 inserted in the piping 30 which connects the airpump with the air manifold 27.

The fruit rubbing or brushing unit of the vapparatus comprises one ormore pairs of parallel spaced brush rolls 34 and 35 rotatably mounted inthe cross-pieces 36 and 37 of the supporting framework of the apparatus,and an endless 145 conveyor between the brush rolls oi' each paircomprising fruit advancing blocks 38 -of inverted V-shape havinghorse-hair or the like brush faces, as do the brush rolls, and mountedon the endless chain 39 running over sprockets o and 41. Eachbrush-block conveyor is driven so that its upper fruit-advancing runtravels toward the right in Figs. 1 and 2, and the cooperating brushrolls are rotated at suitable speed, by mechanism not shown. 'I'he fruitadvances through the trough-shaped runways provided by the vslopingsides of the conveyor brush blocks and the cylindrical surfaces of thecooperating brush rolls, which parts also support and subject the fruitto a rubbing or brushing action during that advance.

As the mist or fog of paraffin is projected from the nozzles 24 of theatomizers into each of the fruit runways, the fruit advancingtherethrough is thoroughly sprayed with the paraffin in nely dividedform, and the rotating brush roll surfaces and rectilinearly movingbrush-block surfaces then cooperate by their rubbing or brushing actionto spread out the finely divided material on the fruit into a uniformcoating of the film-like character desired.

Generally the brushing unit of such a type of fruit-coating apparatus isenclosed, as shown in Fig. 1, the cover of the housing being indicatedat 42; and generally also electric or other suitable heating means,diagrammatically shown at 43, areprovided in the housing to maintain theparaflln deposits on the` fruit sufllciently fluent to facilitate theirbeing spread in a thin film uniformly thereover.

The fruit is fed to the coating apparatus by an endless conveyor 44 ofthe customary roller type, the fruit immediately reaching the runways ofthe rubbing or brushing unit over the inclined chute board 45. Thecoated fruit emerges from the apparatus under the flexible flap 46 atits discharge end on to the endless conveyor 47 by which and associatedconveyor units the fruit continues its travel through the subsequentoperations in the packing house of drying. grading, sizing and packingfor shipment. For reasons already given, the effectiveness of such anapparatus in coating fruit is materially reduced if the spray of thecoating material is not promptly discontinued upon cessation of feed offruit thereto and promptly renewed upon renewal of the feed of thefruit. inbefore stated, my invention, when embodied in such an apparatusin the association or combination with the parts of -that apparatus ascontemplated by the invention, insures such a discontinuance and renewalof the spray of the coating material.

In the illustrative embodiment of my invention in the particularfruit-coating apparatus so far described, the counter shaft 19, in thepower-transmission line for driving the pumps to feed the coatingmaterial, Vis provided with a 1 loose pulley 48 and a clutch mechanismfor making'and breaking a driving connection between Vthat pulley andthe counter shaft. 'Ihe pulley is continuously driven from the soin-ceof power, not shown, by the driving belt 49, so that when theclutch isengaged the pulley 48 drives the counter shaft 19 and the latter in turndrives the pumps and when the clutch is disengaged the rotation of thecounter shaft ceases and in turn the operation of the pumps. Arranged inoperative relation with the clutch mechanism is a control memberextending into the line of feedof fruit to the apparatus and .operableout of an initial positionby contact therewith of fruit being fed andautomatically returning to the initial position upon cessation of suchfeed As also hereto control the' engaging and disengaging function ofthe clutch mechanism.

Referring more particularly, to the clutch mechanism, in the presentillustrative embodiment of the invention it comprises a clutch member orkey 50 pivotally mounted at 5l in a groove 52 provided in thecylindrical face of the counter shaft 19, with the groove of such depthand contour, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, as to present the outer face ofthe key, when retracted, flush with the cylindrical face oi' the countershaft, and to permit the pivotal movement of the key outwardly toextendl its free end beyond the` cylindrical face of the counter shaft.A spring 53, housed in a recess in the bottom of the groove in the shaft19 and in an opposed recess inthe bottom face of the key, tends toresiliently pivot the key outwardly o f the groove in the shaftiand agroove 54 is provided in the A hub of the power vpulley 48 to receivethe outwardly pivoted. endof the key in a manner to releasably lock thepulley fast on the shaft. When, therefore, the key is pivoted outwardlyunder the influence oi' its spring into the groove in the power pulleythe clutch is engaged or set for driving the counter shaft and inconsequence the pumps for feeding the coating material to the atomizersof the apparatus, and the clutch may be' disengaged or released bypressure on the clutch key sufllcient to retract it wholly within thegroove in the counter shaft.

The loose pulley 48 is spaced from the fast pulley 21 by a spacingcollar 55 on the counter shaft, as shown in Fig. 4.

Referring more particularly to the means for controlling the engagingand'disengaging functions of the clutch, in the present illustrativeembodiment of the invention that control means comprises aclutch-operating rod or bar 56 slidably mounted at an inclination asshown in Figs. 1 and 5 ina bracket 57 secured to one of the uprights 58of the apparatus frame below and closely adjacent the counter shaft 19,the bar being mounted for its sliding movement in the notches 59 of theLtwo forks or arms 60 of the bracket. The upper free end portion of theclutch bar is reduced to form a concave shoulder 61 and a terminal arm82 projecting beneath and across the counter shaft 19 in the region ofthe clutch key pivoted in the groove of that shaft, as shown in Figs. 4and 5. With the clutch bar thus mounted for rectilinear movement inobliquely upward and downward directions, its terminal arm 62 is alwaysspaced a sumcient distance below the cylindrical surface of the countershaftlil to permit the clutch key 50 to pivot outwardly into ensgementin the groove 54 of the powerpulley and consequently to enable therotation of the counter shaft 19 in the direction indicated by the arrowon Fig. 5. But with the clutchkey thus pivoted outwardly into engagementwith the power pulley and with the counter shaft thus rotating, when theclutch bar is thrown to its upper position shown in full lines in Fig.5, the shoulder 61 of that bar, because of its cam contour, smoothlycontacts the clutch key to retract thesame from that engagement. Uponthe downward throw of the clutch bar its cam shoulder so retreats fromthe counter shaft as to frec Vthe clutch key for its pivotal movement,undef the influence of its spring, again into the groove of the powerpulley Vwhen that groove. inthe continuous rotation of the Ital.'

ses

pulley, comes into position for such engagement. f

position of its upward throw to act positively te disengage the clutchkey 50 from its groove 54 in the power pulley 48 so as to break thedriving connection between the power pulley and the counter shaft 19 andwhen in the position of its downward throw to free that key for itsoutward pivoting movement under the influence of its spring again intothe groove of the power pulley.

In the present instance, the means for controllably actuating the clutchbar and thereby effecting the engagement and disengagement of the clutchcoincidently with the feed and the cessation of feed of fruit to theapparatus, comprises a control member extending into the path of feed ofthe fruit and having an initial set position from which it is movable bythe advancing fruit and to which it automatically returns upon cessationof feed of the fruit, and an operating rod linking the control member tothe clutch bar. The control member is therefore also an actuatingmember, functioning to throw the clutch bar 56. That control oractuating member comprses two side lever arms 63, pivotally mounted neartheir upper extremities by the bolts 64 in the brackets 65 secured byscrews 66 to the side rails 67 of the conveyor 44 feeding the fruit tothe apparatus. A curved base member 68 joins the correspondingly curvedlower extremities of the lever arms, the base member extending the fullwidth of the conveyor and being preferably of sheet metal such asgalvanized sheet iron. They entire control member thus formed and thuspivotally mounted presents its base portion depending into suchproximity to the upper run of the fruit-feeding conveyor as to be bodilylifted by pressure of the advancing fruit thereagainst so that the leverarms are swung on their pivots from the initial position they occupywhen no fruit is on the conveyor as shown in full lines in Fig. 5 to theposition shown in dotted lines in that view. The rod 69, pivotallylinked to the upper extremity lof one of the lever arms 63 of thecontrol member and` to the lower extremity of the clutch bar 56,transmits movement from the control member to the clutch bar.

When the control member is in its initial position occupied when nofruit is on the conveyor, shown in full lines in Fig. 5, it is to benoted that the upper end of the lever arm of theV control member has,through the rod 69, thrown the clutch bar 56 to its upper positionbringing its cam shoulder 61 into engagement with the clutch key 50 in amanner to retract that key from the groove in the power pulley 48 andthus break the driving connection between that pulley and the countershaft 19 from which the pumps for feeding the coating material aredriven. Due to the resistance offered by the pumps, the counter shaftstops abruptly' upon the retraction of the clutch key from itsengagement with the power pulley so that there is not that continuedrotation of the shaft which would carry the key beyond the cam shoulder6l of the clutch bar. Consequently, as long as the clutch bar is in itsupper position there is no danger of a freeing of the clutch keyenabling its .reengagement with the power pulley. When the controlmember is actuated by the fruit advancing on the feeding conveyor sothat the lever arms are moved to the position shown in dotted lines inFig. 5, the clutch bar is thrown to its lower position which retractsits cam shoulder -6l out of engagement with the clutch key 50.

Thereupon the key, under the pressure of its spring, immediately pivotsoutwardly into the groove in the power pulley 48, thus making thedriving connection between that pulley and the counter shaft 19 so thatthe pumps are started for the feeding of the coating material to theatomizers of the apparatus.

Thus the described arrangement is such that as long as fruit is beingfed to the coating apparatus, a driving connection is maintained betweenthe source rof power and the pumps which feed the coating material tothe atomizers, and that driving connection is broken promptly uponcessation of feed of the fruit and as promptly renewed upon renewal offeed of the fruit.

If desired, the air compressor can also be driven from the same shaft asthe fuel pumps, such, for example, as the counter shaft 19 in thepresent apparatus, so that the compressedair feed as well as the feed ofcoating material to the atomizers may be automatically stopped uponcessation of feed of fruit to the apparatus. Generally, however, it ispreferable, as in the described arrangement, to continue the feed of thecompressed air after the feeding of the coating material has stoppedupon cessation of feed of the articles to be coated, as such continuedfeed of air to the atomizers serves to blow out therefrom the last ofthe paraffin or other coating material of the preceding feed and therebyto keep the atomizers free from accumulations of solidified coatingmaterial.

What is claimed' is:

1. In an article coating apparatus, the combination with means forfeeding articles to the apparatus, mechanically driven means for feedingcoating material to the apparatus for application to said articles anddriving means therefor, of means for connecting and disconnecting saiddriving meanswith and from said driven means comprising a clutch betweensaid driving and driven means and control mechanism therefor arranged tobe mechanically actuated by the articles ln their feeding -movement toeffect the setting of said clutch for said connection and lautomatically actuating to release said clutch upon cessation of feed ofsaid articles.

2. In an article coating apparatus, the combination with means forfeeding articles thereto, mechanically driven means for feeding coatingmaterial for application to said articles and a source of powertherefor, of a spring-actuated clutch automatically setting to make andreleasable to break a driving connection between said source of powerand said mechanically driven means, and clutch-control mechanismautomatically operable to release said clutch and restrain the same fromsetting when the feed of articles to said apparatus is stopped butarranged to be actuated by said articles being fed to said apparatus tofree said clutch for its automatic setting.

3. In an article coating apparatus, the combination with means forfeeding articles to the apparatus, mechanically driven means for feedingcoating material to the apparatus for application to said articles and asource of power therefore, of clutch mechanism set to make andreleasable to break a driving connection between said source of powerand said mechanically driven means and clutch-control mechanism having amember movable to set the clutch by engagement therewith of articlesbeing fed to the apparatus and automatically moving upon cessation ofsaid feed to release the clutch.

4. Control mechanism for article coating apparatus of the type havingmeans for feeding articles thereto along a predetermined path, pumpmeans for feeding coating material for application to said articles anda driving shaft therefor, said control mechanism comprising a powerpulley, clutch mechanism between said pulley and shaft having a clutchelement normally spring-pressed to set position effecting a drivingconnection between said pulley and shaft, and clutch-control meanscomprising a. clutch bar adapted to be thrown into engagement with saidclutch element to release the same and thereby break said drivingconnection, and a control member automatically movable to effect saidthrow of said clutch bar but so arranged in the path of feed of saidarticles as to be restrained by the articles in their feeding movementfrom throwing said clutch bar.

5. Control mechanism for article coating apparatus of the type havingmeans for advancing articles along a predetermined path into position tobe coated by said apparatus, pump means for feeding coating material forapplication to said articles and a driving shaft therefor, said controlmechanism comprising a power pulley loose on said shaft, a clutch keyand spring therefor, said shaft being provided with a groove pivotallymounting said key and housing said spring in a manner to resilientlypivot said key outwardly of said shaft and the hub of said pulley beingprovided with a groove to receive the outwardly pivoted end of said keyto effect a driving connection between said pulley and shaft, andclutch-control means comprising a clutch bar mounted for oppositedirections of throw into and out of engagement with said keyrespectively to retract the same from its connection with said powerpulley and to release said key for renewal of said connection, and acontrol member extending into the path of feed of articles to theapparatus and automatically movable when no articles are being fed tothrow said clutch bar to its key-engaging position but movable byarticles being fed to throw said clutch bar out of its key-engagingposition.

6. In a fruit coating apparatus, the combination with fruit-conveyormeans, a device for spraying fluent coating material on fruit deliveredto said conveyor means, a pump for supplying fiuent-coating material tosaid spray device and driving means for said pump, of clutch mechanismset to make and releasable to break a driving connection between saiddriving means and said pump, and clutch-control means comprising acontrol member extending into the path of the fruit on said conveyormeans and arranged to be `operated by the passing fruit to effect thesetting of said clutch mechanism and automatically movable uponcessation of delivery of fruit to said conveyor means to effect therelease of said clutch mechanism.

7. In an apparatus for treating fruit, the combination with mechanismfor rubbing or brushing fruit, means arranged to feed fruit in apredetermined path to said mechanism, means for atomizing or nebulizingprotective material into contact with said fruit fed to said rubbing orbrushing mechanism, mechanically driven means for feeding saidprotective material in fluent form to said atomizing or nebulizing meansand a source of power therefor, of clutch mechanism set to make andreleased to break a driving connection between said source of power andsaid mechanically driven means, and clutchcontrol mechanism having anactuating member operable by fruit fed to said apparatus to effect thesetting of said clutch mechanism and automatically operating in theabsence of said feed of fruit to release said clutch mechanism.

8. In a fruit treating apparatus, the combination with revolublebrush-roll mechanism, means for feeding fruit thereto, means foratomizlng and spraying protective material Vupon fruit fed to saidbrush-roll mechanism, a receptacle for liquid protective material, pumpmeans for feeding said material from said receptacle to said atomizingand spraying means and a. source of power for driving said pump means,of clutch mechanism automatically setting to make and releasable tobreak a driving connection between said source of power and said pumpmeans, and clutch-control mechanism automatically operable to releasesaid clutch and restrain the same from setting upon cessation of feed offruit to said brush-roll mechanism but arranged to be actuated by thefeeding movement of said fruit to free said clutch for its automaticsetting.

9. In an apparatus for treating fruit, the combination with revolublebrush-rolls, means for feeding fruit thereto, a spray device operativelyadjacent said brush rolls and arranged to discharge in operativeproximity to the same, a container for molten paraffin or the like,means for heating said container, pump means for delivering the moltenparaffin from said container to said spray device and a source of powertherefor, of a clutch for making a driving connection between saidsource of power and said pump and clutch-control means comprising acontrol lever extending into the path of feed of the fruit and movableby the passing fruit to effect said driving connection,said lever beingautomatically movable in the absence of passing fruit to disconnect saidclutch.

HAROLD C. PIERCE.

